Another short intro this week because the kiddo and I flew back from Florida yesterday. Each bit of travel we do with the kiddo makes things easier. We're learning what we do and don't need and how much she'll tolerate. Fingers crossed that things only keep getting better. Our trip was great fun - even if I did need to work for most of it. Something about getting to log-off and visit the pool and eat dinner outside makes an average work day feel a bit like a vacation.
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Short intro this week because yesterday was a travel day. Kiddo and I flew, just the two of us, to Florida to visit my parents for her spring break. The hardest part of the trip was the baggage. I was determined not to check anything. Thankfully, my parents have most of the kiddo's bigger items so I did not have to worry about those. I still ended up wheeling a small suitcase, diaper bag, kiddo's backpack, and my laptop bag through the airport. It was a lot but we managed. I probably could have packed way less. Kiddo is just going to live in the pool while we're here.
This week, my University offered opioid overdose and Narcan training for anyone who was available to attend. While this has not been an issue at our library, it is a concern for every library. The training was presented be HIPS, a local harm reduction non-profit, and it provided a comprehensive look at this issue. I am going to share my (lengthy) notes from the training. I have removed the DC specific information but I guarantee there is a local organization near you that would be happy to provide training. Whatever your views on the drug crisis, it's never a bad decision to save a life. (Note - Narcan is the brand name for naloxone.)
About a week ago, my colleagues and I received the peer-review comments for an article we submitted to a journal. At first, they were overwhelming. There was a long email with each reviewer summarizing their thoughts and recommendations. Attached was a track changes edition of the article. At first glance, it was daunting. We were happy the reviewers recommended publication, but it looked like we had a lot of revisions to complete. On second review, after I reminded myself that we did not have to take all the suggestions, things didn't look too shabby. We sat down, made a list of revisions, and got to work. My main job was taking the track changes document and completing a line edit. I like doing line edits, so this wasn't too bad. To show my work, I left comments for my colleagues when I opted NOT to accept a revision. Let's just say one reviewer was nit-picky. Their revisions were mainly stylistic and not substantive. As I line edited, my comments became more and more sarcastic. It's a good thing only we will see these notes. They say you never want to see how laws and sausage are made. I would add peer-reviewed scholarship to that list. What part of your job is messy?
For the past few years, we've let the kiddo put together her own March Madness bracket. She doesn't give a whit about the teams and she has no concept of seeding, but she does have strong opinions about mascots. Each year, I download a picture of every single mascot. Then, I pull up the image of the mascots for each game on my laptop. She tells me which one she likes best. It's not a winning method, but it is a lot of fun. We generally do it over dinner and I try my best to not sway her choices. While there are a lot of dogs, wolves, birds, and questionable Native American mascots, there's usually one or two random outliers. I, personally, was a big fan of St. Peter's peacock. Kiddo, on the other hand was delighted by Long Beach State's shark. It was an immediate favorite and she had this 15-seed team taking the championship. Spoiler alert - they will not be the champion. How do you pick your bracket?
I have a confession to make. I love going to conferences, but I hate most keynotes. They always start the event and, in the case of library conferences, there's generally one each morning. Rarely do I enjoy them. Generally, keynotes tend to be big blue sky speeches. They are full of large ideas and positive energy. You're supposed to leave feeling uplifted from all the rah-rah attitude. As much as I love this energy and forward thinking progress, these blue sky speeches are usually full of generic platitudes and vague concepts. Or, if not blue sky, the keynote is basic generalities. Maybe it's because I'm fairly plugged in to my profession and the world in general, but these keynotes tend to be content that I either already knew or could have read in a one-page memo, Or, the keynotes are examples of people doing truly amazing things.... with A LOT of money my organization does not have and will never get. I love hearing about the innovations but this kind of keynote is hard to translate down to organizations without the same level of resources. Every time I go to a conference, I drag myself to the keynotes because I know I should be there, but my internal snark level is high. What's your conference hot take?
This week, I had to submit my annual faculty portfolio. This is in addition to the promotion portfolio I submitted several months ago. It's a lot of work. It frustrates me every year. This year was no different. But, it's always a good reminder about just how much I've managed to accomplish. Plus, gathering all my "evidence" requires me to deep dive into my email. This includes my folder of happy emails. About two years ago, I started saving all the positive feedback students and faculty send me. At first, I did this so I could "prove my impact" in my portfolio. While I still do that, I mostly use this as pick-me-up on hard days. I like to open that folder and read all the good messages. Even re-reading just one message can help improve my day. Do you have a happy emails folder?
This week I (finally) got to book my travel for a work conference in May. It's out on the west coast which always presents a dilemma. Do I get up before the sunrise so I can minimize delays and arrive at a normal hour but show up exhausted? Or, do I sleep to a reasonable hour, leave in the afternoon, but arrive quite late? So far, I've always opted for option A. For some reason, I prefer getting up at 3:30 in the morning to make those 5 or 6AM flights. I like knowing that my plane is already there and that I have a better chance of making my connections. Then, when I arrive on the west coast, I have the chance to settle in and, just maybe, sneak in a few hours of sightseeing. But, I always end up struggling to stay awake past 8PM. At my last west coast conference, I fell asleep at 8:30PM and awoke at 5AM the following day. I never really did settle in to the time change. Getting up that early makes for some very long conference days. I generally break down and get an afternoon coffee for an energy boost which is something I rarely do. Do you prefer early flights or later flights?
Parenting is full of surprises. Certain things I knew I would definitely do... or not do. Some things I left to fate. Other things I have done complete about-faces on from what I thought I would do (lol the idea of making my own baby food). And then there are the things you can't plan for. I always thought I would be a "Mommy." It's what I called my mom. It's what I call myself. It's what my husband calls me when talking to our kiddo. I figured, because that's what we did, I would be "Mommy" until kiddo outgrew it... hopefully not until college. I did not count on the influence of Daniel Tiger. This was the first TV show we freely let our kiddo watch and she was quickly a fan. On that show, Daniel's mom is Mom Tiger. Mom - not Mommy. Slowly but surely our kiddo stopped calling me Mommy and moved to Mom. I had no idea how sad I would be about that change. But, I let it happen because this was definitely not something that needed to be corrected. Then, this week, out of nowhere, kiddo started calling me "Mommy" again. I don't know what prompted the change but those extra two letters coming out in our kiddo's cute voice makes my heart melt. I don't think it will last, but I'm going to relish being "Mommy" again for as long as I can.
This week's Wrap is short because, despite some life shenanigans putting speed bumps in the way, the husband and I are (finally!) on our annual friends' ski trip. We're enjoying lots of quality time, a hot tub, putting together a puzzle, and eating great food with people we don't get to see often enough. (I am the strictly après ski type.) What's one of your favorite friend traditions?
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